Over the last few days I have been in an email debate with a friend over the issue of health care reform. Gary is pushing the Ralph Nader “single payer” side and I am fiercely defending the free market. He asked me to watch the PBS report “Sick Around The World” which I did. The one thing that stands out to me is that all of those systems are facing financial difficulties.
I will address the country of Japan segment, mainly because I lived in Japan for 3 years and have actual experience with the culture. I do not think the film paid nearly enough attention to the cultural reasons why Japan is so healthy. It did mention their diet, fish and rice are a staple. What it failed to document is the number of businesses that have organized fitness / exercise sessions each day. Citizens of Japan also bow instead of shaking hands which decreases the amount of germs spread via contact, even money is placed into baskets before being handed to the other person. They wear masks when they are sick. They wash their hands and faces frequently with hot towels, and have hot (*really hot*) baths — both of which are things I truly miss. These are just a few quick things that I can point out as to why they are healthier regardless of the health care system.
While a 3-5 minute free visit to a doctor may be appealing to some I am not sure that it is sufficient to catch many health problems. I think being healthy from the beginning is a huge reason why it hasn’t had devastating consequences.
This leads to one of my big beefs with my fellow Americans, nobody seems to take responsibility for their own health and fitness. Everyone wants to pop a pill instead of eating a better diet and exercising. Nobody wants to give up fast food, smoking, and not getting enough sleep. As a nation we are overweight, drink/smoke too much, and get little to no exercise (pushing the button on the remote control doesn’t count!). “WE” are as much of the problem as greedy medical companies. If we took better care of ourselves we wouldn’t need to visit the doctor as much and pop dozens of pills.
There is nothing in the Constitution about health care rights so I don’t really understand why people think this is a federal government function to begin with. ( “General welfare” does not mean healthcare, that was never the intention of the founding fathers.) Why would anyone really want it to be if they took into account just how badly the federal government manages everything else it does. I mean they cannot even run the post office at a break even point (let alone a profit) even though it is a monopoly!!!
As a veteran I have seen the government’s way of dealing with medical issues, buy stock in Motrin because that is the answer to everything! And the horror stories breaking recently about the VA hospitals should have everyone running scared about government medicine.
So why are so many people demanding the government “fix” health care? I don’t think they understand the issue they just don’t want to worry about going bankrupt due to medical bills. I do understand that point. However I think the answer is the free market — it has lowered the price of everything else! Make doctors really compete for business. Make medical facilities post the prices for tests and procedures so citizens can actually compare prices and know in advance how much they will need to spend.
Instead of another government program let’s give the free market a try. There was a great post today comparing different versions (1958 vs. 1988) of the movie The Blob. It is a great read and I think the gist of the post is dead on.
Read: The Movie “The Blob” Supports the Case Against Government Healthcare
Also, this is a great video by Congressman Dr. Ron Paul that I think everyone should watch:
The poor were taken care of before the government got involved. The whole reason we give charities tax breaks is so they can fill in gaps like this in society. If the government is going to do everything (including running GM – but that is a rant for another day) then why even bother with charities any more?
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